


The Birds, The Bats, and The Ladybug

by Lovecatshatepeople



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: A dash of ml salt, Alya Salt, And the ones who are don't do shit., Badass Mari, Badass Sabine, Bruce is Marinettes's godfather, Canon-Typical Violence, Dragon Kagami Tsurugi | Ryuko, Eat your heart out Gotham, Ladybug is coming, Lila Rossi Bashing, MariBat, Marinette is tiny but fierce, Marinette knows that they're Waynes, Multi, Protective big brother Jason, Sabine is former League of Assassins/League of Shadows, Snake Luka Couffaine | Viperion, Some people are wise to Lila, but doesn't get what the big deal is., but not enough
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2020-10-21 14:07:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20694794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lovecatshatepeople/pseuds/Lovecatshatepeople
Summary: -Sabine and her husband knew things at school were not going well for their Daughter, and that they hadn't been for at least two years. Whenever Sabine asked her about it though Marinette always insisted that it was nothing she couldn't handle, but when Marinette comes home early one day crying with torn clothes, a black eye, and a bruised cheek Sabine decides enough is enough. Marinette is going to transfer out of that school whether she wants to or not, but then Sabine receives another shock, her daughter is actually Ladybug. With Hawkmoth getting worse Sabine knows her daughter needs more training in fighting and detective work, but Sabine couldn't teach her without giving away her secret. If only Sabine knew some kind of vigilante, oh, wait, she does, and he just so happens to be Marinette's Godfather.-Marinette never originally thought that things with Lila would get this bad, but after her worst day yet Marinette couldn't help but run home crying. Now her parents know how bad things have gotten, and she's just been informed that she's being sent to America to live with a Godfather that she can barely remember. Marinette however she feels this could be a fresh start, but what about Ladybug?





	1. Descoveries and Decisions

**Author's Note:**

> Hello This is my first fanfic, so I'm sorry if it sucks. It should be noted that some of the chapters will take inspiration from things like songs, but others won't. Finding a song for every chapter is too much work. In this fic Sabine and Bruce are old friends, they met when Bruce was training with the League of Assassins in his younger days. Sabine neither of them wanted to stay in the League, so they helped each other get out. When Mari was born Sabine asked Bruce to be her Godfather. This will be elaborated more in the story, but I'll answer any question you have.

Sabine was working the front counter of the bakery one day, when the bell to the bakery chimed. Sabine looked up from where she was counting the money, ready lo help a potential costomer only to be shocked by the sight of her beloved daughter Marinette. Now Sabine knew that Marinette wasn't suppossed get out of school for hours, but that wasn't what concerned her. What suprised and horrified Sabine the most was the state her daughter was in; she was crying (Sabine hadn't seen her daughter cry since she was eleven), her clothes were torn in multiple places, one of her pigtails was cut off, there was a deep purple swelling around her eye, and her cheek was bright red as if she had been slapped. Sabine quickly rushed over to her baby girl, gathering her in her arms. 

"What happened my bǎobèi, who did this to you", She asked anxiously. 

"Th-they", Marinette let out a sob "M-my classmates they", another whimper, "They HATE me!", and with this the girl broke down into gut-wrenching sobs becoming completely in coherent.

Sabine was even more shocked than before, at this rate her daughter would be a prime akuma target. Sabine made up her mind she called her husband to carry their daughter upstairs, and closed the bakery. Paris, she decided, could go the rest of today without their sweets.

*******************************************************************

Once they got Marinette upstairs they got her some tea and macaroons, and managed to calm her down enough that she could tell them what happened. Marinette was hesitant at first, but Sabine told her that they couldn;t help unless they knew what was going on. It was clear to Marinette that her parents weren't going to just let this go, so she told them everything. She told them about Lila, about how she lied and almost everyone in her class believed her. She told them about her threats, and how she made good on them. She told them how she had convinced the class that Marinette was a violent manipulative bully that needed to be punished, and how it had escalated to physical punishment. When her parents asked if there were any people on her side she told them that there was but they were either in another class or didn't do anything to help her. Finally she told them how all the teachers except for Mme. Mendeleiev would turn a blind eye when this would happen, always telling her that she needed to set a good example.

By the time her daughter was done talking Sabine's blood was boiling and her husband didn't look much better. How dare they treat her daughter like this! After all she had done for that class! Most of all though Sabine was mad at herself, she had known that things at school were not going well for Marinette, but whenever she asked asked her Marinette would always say that she was fine or that it was nothing she couldn't handle, and Sabine didn't want to pry. She regretted not pushing sooner, maybe this could have all been avoided, but there was nothing she could do to change the past, and she and her husband needed to have a talk. So, after Marinette was stable she sent her off to her room to rest.

*******************************************************************

As soon as their daughter was gone her husband turned to her and exclaimed, "We can't keep her in that school!".

"Yes, I am well aware of that, she is so stuborn though she's not going to want to leave because that would feel like surrendering." Sabine replied seriously. It was known to them that Marinette had alway been stuborn and independent. The girl always wanted to deal with things on her own.

"Then what do we do?", Tom asked frantically.

Sabine looked at him sternly, "we're not going to give her a choice.", Sabine replies coolly, "We are her parents and we are going to do what is best for her, whether she likes it or not"

Tom nodded in understanding, "The sooner we break it to her the better, so do you want to tell her or should I?", he questioned.

"I'll deal with it," she said before heading off to her daughter's room.

*******************************************************************************

Whwn Sabine got to her daughters room she was nowhere to be found, Sabine figured she was relaxing on the balcony before nightfall, Marinette was no longer allowed out on her balcony after dark, not since the Chat Noir incident three months ago. So Sabine then made her way up the ladder to her balconey, and while Marinette was there Sabine was not prepared for what she was about to witness. Sabine saw her daughter with some kind of little red fairy, and the next thing she knew she heard her daughter say, "Tikki spots on!", and her daughter went though some kind of glowing transformation. When Sabine looked up again Ladybug was standing in her place, before she bounder off over the rooftops.

Sabine slinked back down the ladder and slumped onto Marinette's bed. Her daughter was Ladybug she realized. HER DAUGHTER WAS LADYBUG! Ladybug as in one of Paris's heros. That.... actually explained a lot, but that diddn't make Sabine freak out any less. This meant her daughter was in danger on a regular basis, and Sabine could tell that Hawkmoth was getting worse and Marinette didn't have any proper training like her mother. Sabine could train Marinette herself, but that could give away her actual identity and location, becides most of what Sabine could teach her was life threatening, and Ladybug wasn't supposed to kill the akumas, she was supposed to save them. That was all not to mention that if Marinette was to ever find Hawkmoth she needed proper detective training, because Ladybug got no help from Paris' poollice force.

Sabine was brainstorming a way to help her daughter for a good hour before it came to her. It was so obvious too. Sabine had a call to make.


	2. The call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabine calls an old friend to talk about making arrangements for Marinette, and Bruce has a lot of things to consider. Not to mention he has to tell everyone that the manor will have another occupant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again I'm sorry if this isn't very good, but I'm willing to listen to constructive criticism.

Sabine walked to the living room and grabbed her phone, before heading into her own bedroom and shutting the door and locking it. She really couldn't afford her husband overhearing this conversation. It wasn't that her husband didn't know her past, but the man was far too emotional to be told their daughter's identity while Hawkmoth was still at large. She sighed, and placed the international call, hopefully he would be awake.

********************************************************************************  
Bruce had just gotten back from a particularly bad patrol when his phone started to ring. Looking down he was surprised by the name on the caller's ID. 'Sabine', he hasn't heard from her since around Christmas, and that was just to tell him that everyone wanted to thank him for the gifts he sent. Hesitantly he picked up.

"Hello, Sabine. Is every thing all right?" he questioned.

"Hello, and no things are not all right over here. I'm going to have to ask a favor of you.", she replied seriously. Bruce hadn't heard his friend sound this serious in a long time.

"You know I'd do anything to help you Sabine. What do you need?", he replied worriedly.

Sabine gave a deep, exhausted sigh, "It's not a small favor Bruce, and it may place you and your family at quite the inconvenience."

Bruce's brow furrowed, "Whatever it is I'm sure we can help Sabine, is it about that villain in Paris right now? I know you said the local heroes had it handled, but now that the League and I are no longer dealing with that intergalactic war crisis, we have the time and the people to help."

Sabine sighed again, she seemed to be doing that a lot in this call, "Both yes and no Bruce. The main thing I need to talk to you about is my daughter Marinette".

Bruce's eyes went wide with shock, "Marinette?", he said, "Is something wrong with Marinette?", despite having only met the girl a handful of times, Bruce cared about the girl. Honestly it was a shame that he hadn't had the time to visit in years.

"I'm afraid so, It would appear that she is being severely bullied in her school, and the staff is doing nothing about it.", Bruce as shocked to say the least, Marinette had been such a sweet girl. He couldn't imagine why anyone would want to hurt her, but Sabine was still talking. "So, I would like her to go stay with you and your family until we can do something about it"

Bruce was speechless for a moment. Finally he managed to say, "I'm more than willing to accommodate her Sabine, but if I may ask you, wouldn't it be easier to just transfer her to another school within the city?"

"Ah", Sabine huffed, "that brings us to the part of my request involving Paris's heroes. You see I just found out that my daughter is actually Ladybug, and with Hawkmoth becoming more desperate, and her partner lacking in responsibility, I believe Marinette needs more professional training in both fighting and detective work.", She paused before saying, "You are the only person that I trust to do this."

Once again Bruce was struck speechless, "I-I'm willing to do it Sabine, but I don't know how I feel about reveling my family and I's identities to her."

" You won't have to!", she replied quickly, "You live in a very dangerous city Bruce, you can claim it's just self defense training, and as for the detective work you can say that you're trying to teach her better cognitive thinking skills."

"Okay, that works, but what about Ladybug being away from Paris?", he asked.

"I know for a fact that there is a Miraculous that allows for teleportation. Perhaps she can use that, but she needs this Bruce. I'm so worried about her.", Sabine begged. 

Finally Bruce gave in, "Okay.... I'll take her in and train her. I'll have everything prepared for her in record time"

"Thank you so much Bruce, but could you do one more thing. Could you not tell her you know her identity, she's been through a lot, and I'd like her to grow comfortable enough to tell you in her own time.", Sabine said pleadingly.

"I will do that, but for now good bye Sabine" Bruce sighed out.

"Goodbye Bruce, and thank you again."

With that Bruce hung up the phone and buried his head in his hands; this was going to complicate things, but Bruce couldn't bare refusing Sabine. She was one of his oldest friends, and considering the times she went out of her was to keep him alive when he was training with the assassins, he felt he owed her. 

It wasn't that he didn't want to help the girl either, quite the contrary, he'd always thought the girl was quite intelligent, and thought it would be interesting to see that intelligence honed. That wasn't the problem, the problem was his family. He wasn't sure how they would react to Wayne manor having a new inhabitant, and he knew for sure that a few of them would have to change their habits as to not give away their identities.

Bruce sighed, the sooner he told them the better, so he sent out an alert to his whole team informing them that there was to be an important team meeting tomorrow at 12:00 pm. With this Bruce went to bed, deciding to deal with everything else tomorrow.

*************************************************************************************************************************

Bruce looked around at the crowded Bat Cave. It looked like everyone had came, good Bruce really didn't want to repeat himself.

"Okay everyone", they all turned to look at him as he called the meeting to order. "I know you're all probably wondering why I called you here."

"No kidding", Jason said, " don't tell me that the Joker broke out of Arkham again"

"Did somebody figure out our identities?", questioned Barbara.

"What about Scare Crow, does it have something to do with him?" asked Tim

Bruce shook his head in frustration, "How about you all be quiet, so I can tell you." With this the room went silent.

Bruce began, " Due to certain issues going on in her life right now, I have agreed to take in my god daughter for an indefinite amount of time, until her parents can rectify the situation", Bruce looked at them all before continuing, "Due to her presence at the house I'm going to need you all to be more cautious with your secret identities when you are not in the cave. Are there any questions?", he finished.

The room was completely silent, until Dick finally piped up, "You have a god daughter?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also it should be noted that I did somewhat amp up the class' negative behavior to fit the plot.


	3. Breaking The News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -Marinette is informed that she's going to America to stay with her god father, and decides that she has to tell Master Fu and the few friends she does have immediately.
> 
> -Damian doesn't know what his father was thinking by agreeing to take in a civilian, but he is not amused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Every one no interaction between Marinette and the bat family yet, but don't worry it's coming soon.

Returning home from defeating the akuma, Marinette slinked down the ladder, and flopped onto her bed. She couldn't help but think that she was lucky that it was a pretty weak akuma, because Chat Noir was no help. He just kept flirting and getting in the way. It had been a year and a half since Master Fu started counseling him at her request, and he still showed no progress. Master and her both agreed that if he didn't shape up soon then they'd have to take away his miraculous. Marinette sighed as she detransformed, that really wasn't something she wanted to think about.

It was then that Marinette heard a knock at her door, "Marinette may I come in?", called the familiar voice of her mother. 

"Yes mom, just give me a moment", she said as Tikki hid. 

Marinette opened the door to find her mom standing there with a very serious look on her face, "Marinette I have something to tell you. You might want to sit down for this."

Marinette walked over and sat on the bed, as her mom stood in front of her. "Marinette your father and I have talked, and we decided that in light of what you have told us, you are not going back to Dupont"

Marinette hung her head, she had been expecting this really. It wasn't a surprise, but Marinette couldn't help wondering what other school she'd be sent to.

"Instead", her mother continued, "you are going to be staying with your godfather, Bruce, in America."

Marinette's head shot up at this. She hadn't been expecting this. She just thought she'd have to transfer to another school in the city, not that she'd be made to move to another country! Ladybug couldn't leave the country!

"Mom!", she exclaimed, "don't you think that that's a bit extreme? I don't want to leave Paris!"

"I'm sorry bǎo bèi", her mom said sympathetically, "but I've already made up my mind, and knowing your God father the arrangements for you to leave should be ready within a week. Until then you will be staying home, preparing and helping your father and I with the bakery." She gave Marinette a stern look, "Do you understand?"

Marinette looked down, "Yes mother, I understand"

"Good", her mother replied, "I'll leave you alone now to process it, and think about anything you need to do before you leave." And with that she left Marinette in her room.

Tikki floated out of her hiding place and gave Marinette a look of alarm.

"I know", Marinette said, "We need to go see Master."

*************************************************************************************************************

After successfully sneaking out, Marinette headed straight for Master Fu's shop. She arrived out of breath, alarming Fu in the process.

"Marinette, what's going o-oh dear, what happed to you?", He said clearly having noticed the girls injuries.

Marinette sighed, "Lila and my happened, but that's not important right now. We need to talk", she said seriously.

Master Fu nodded in understanding, and quickly closes the shop. "I assume this is related to Ladybug business?"

Marinette nods, "I'm afraid I can't be Ladybug anymore.", she replies sorrowfully.

Fu's eyes widen in shock, "Why would that be?"

She frowns, "My parents are sending me to America to stay with my godfather."

Master Fu looks at her sagely. "They aren't giving me a choice I swear!", Marinette said quickly.

"I understand, but I don't see how that would prevent you from being Ladybug", he said calmly.

"How can Ladybug protect Paris if she's on another continent?", Mari questioned.

Fu smiled, "With this", he said handing her the horse and fox miraculous.

Marinette was flabbergasted, "Master are you sure?"

"Marinette", he said, "I would be hard-pressed to find a better Ladybug than you, and besides it will be good guardian training."

Marinette eventually sighs and says, "Okay, I understand the horse miraculous, but why the fox?"

Master Fu shrugs and says, "That's just incase you're under close watch. You can have Trixx cast an illusion to distract them." H gives a bitter laugh, "it's not like anyone is using it anyway."

Marinette sighs, "Okay I'll use the horse miraculous to teleport here when I get an Akuma alert, but what will Paris do in the meantime."

Fu looks at her seriously and says, "I will be making the wielders of the dragon and the snake miraculous full time heroes."

Marinette's eyes go wide before she schools her expression and says, "I understand, and I have the utmost faith that they will do well."

With this Marinette picked up the horse miraculous, and the little kwami came out. "Hello", he said, "I'm Kaalki, and I hope that we can work well together."

"Thank you, but could you tell me what you eat?", she requested.

"Sugar cubes", the kwami states simply.

After this Master Fu says that he needs to return to the shop, and on her way out Marinette decides she also needs to tell her friends, so she sends a text to the group chat asking them to meet her at the bakery after school.

************************************************************************************************************ 

Kagami was not happy to say the least. When she heard about what happened between Marinette and her classmates it took Marc, Mireille, and Aurore all holding her back to keep her from driving her saber through those idiots. So yea, she was downright pissed, and now she and the rest of the group were going to go see Marinette at the bakery.

"I hope she's alright", Mireille said worriedly. Kagami nods in agreement.

They meet Luka at the door to the bakery, "Hey, do you guys know what happened?"

Aurore nods, "She was physically assaulted by some classmates.", she growls out 

Kagami can see the rage swirling in Luka's usually calm eyes at hearing this.

"Guys!", Marc pipes up, "anger is not going to help Marinette right now."

Kagami sighs, "Let's go in then."

************************************************************************************************************

When they went inside they were immediately herded up to Marinette's room by her parents. As soon as they got to her room all their eyes landed on Marinette. 

"Oh, Mari-hime!", Kagami gasped out immediately running to embrace the girl.

Kagami cradled the other girls face, "I'll make them pay for this!"

"No Kagami", Mari said, "You'll only get in trouble, besides I don't have to worry about them anymore anyways."

"What do you mean", Mireille asked curiously

Marinette sighed, "Well, I guess I might as well jump into it", she looked up at them sadly, "Now that my parents know, they have decided to send me to America to stay with my godfather."

"I'm sorry guys", the petit girl whimpered.

"That's fine Mari", Marc said, "but how do you feel about it, because that's what really matters."

Marinette hesitated before saying, "Well, I'm obviously going miss you guys, but I also can't help but feel a bit hopeful that this could be a fresh start."

"Then that's good enough for us", Aurore said.

Marinette looked up hesitantly, "Really?"

"Really." Luca said reassuringly.

Kagami smiled a bit, she would miss the girl to be sure, but anything that might make Marinette happy couldn't be a bad thing. 'No', she thought, 'This is good.'

*****************************************************************************************************************************

'This is NOT good', Damian thought. What was his father thinking, taking in a civilian. She would just get in the way. Not to mention the threat it would pose to their secret identities. He didn't care if the girl was his goddaughter. There was no justification for why the girl had to come stay with them, and whenever he would ask his father he would just say that was between him and the girls mother. He wondered if this girl could even fight at all, but he felt it was unlikely.

He just hoped she was at least tolerable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed. I'm thinking about writing a story where instead of being adopted by Harley and Ivy, Marinette is taken in by the outlaws.  
Tell me what you think.


	4. Farewells and New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette's last day in Paris and her friend throw a party, Adrien and company finally notice Mainette's absence, and first meetings don't go as expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is longer than usual, but as always criticism is appreciated.

Sabine woke up that morning feeling a sense of bitter sweetness. Today was the day. This evening her daughter would be leaving for America. Just as Bruce had promised preparations were made in record time. Although Sabine had an inkling that he certain assets he has to wave certain processes through faster. Sabine didn't care though, all she cared about was that soon her baby would be in a safer environment.  
Sabine got ready to take Mari out shopping with Kagami for last minute supplies. In truth there was no need for this, but Sabine needed to keep her daughter away from the bakery for awhile. You see it wasn't long after she had told Mari the news that her daughter's friends came to her and her husband explaining that they would like to throw a surprise going-away party for Marinette. Tom and Sabine agreed of course, and then they all devised a plan for this party. Sabine and Kagami's part of this plan is to keep Marinette distracted while everyone else sets up for the party.  
Sabine heard the knocking at the door downstairs, and knew it must be her daughter's friend. She then heard what could only be Marinette tripping down from her room to open the door. Sabine laughed to herself, today was going to be an interesting day.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Kagami waited outside the bakery in anticipation. She needed to leave with Marinette and her mother before the others arrived, and they were cutting it pretty close. She was lost in thought when the door swung open, and there was Marinette sporting her new pixie cut, and a pink flowered sundress that was clearly one of her original designs. Seeing how happy the girl was upon seeing her reaffirmed to Kagami that she and the others had made the right call in taking a day off school to do this for her  
Kagami smiled and asked her, “Are you and your mom ready to go?”  
“Well, I am. Mom stayed up a bit late to sort out some minor details with Godfather Bruce, so I think she got up a tad late, but she’s getting ready.”, Marinette replied.  
Kagami then hears footsteps, “Not to worry girls I’m here now.”, Mme. Cheng says appearing suddenly.  
“Ok”, Kagami says, “If we are all ready, let us start by going to breakfast. My treat.”  
“Oh Kagami! You don’t have to do that!”, exclaim Marinette and her mother simultaneously.  
“Nonsense”, Kagami replies sternly, “I insist. Now come along, we don’t want to keep the driver waiting”, and with that the three of them stepped into the limo.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Kagami and Sabine had managed to keep Marinette distracted most of the day with various things, such as lavish meals, and mani pedis (all funded by Kagami, much to the protest of Marinette and her mother), when finally Kagami received a text from Luka that everything was ready at 2:00. With this the three of them headed back.  
Kagami couldn’t wait to see the look on Marinette’s face.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Marinette was so happy, this was the best day she had had for a long time. She almost didn’t want today to end. She had so much fun today that she hadn’t even thought about Lila, Alya, Adrien, or anyone in her class really.  
With this comforting thought Marinette opened the door to the bakery, only to be confronted with crescendoing, “SURPRISE!”  
Marinette startledly jumped back a bit, before looking around. The first thing she noticed was the large banner that said, “Bon voyage Marinette” on it along with other decorations (Clearly the handiwork of Aurore, Marc, and Mireille). The second thing was Luka playing a song, but not just any song, that was her song. Lastly was a small pile of wrapped gifts, and a tray of her favorite pastries courtesy of her dad.  
Marinette could feel herself tearing up, “Y-you,” she wobbled out, “you guys did this all for me?”  
Everyone nodded.  
“Oh, you guys. You didn’t have to,” she said tearfully.  
“We know that,'' replied Kagami, “but we wanted to”.  
“Yea,'' said Marc,”You are always doing things for us. We wanted to do something for you before you left.”  
Everyone else nodded in agreement, causing Marinette to burst out crying.  
“Oh come on Mari,” Aurore said in mock exasperation, “no crying. We only have a few hours before you have to leave for the airport, and we’re sending it partying,”  
Marinette laughed in amusement at the blonde’s words.  
“Let’s start with presents! This one is mine and Mireille’s!”, Aurore exclaimed, shoving a present with light blue, cloud themed wrapping paper into Mari’s arms.  
Marinette laughed and ripped off the wrapping paper. Inside was a scrapbook that featured Mari’s biggest accomplishments, and good times with her family and current friends.  
“We hope you like it,” Mireille said shyly, “We worked really hard on it.”  
“Like It? I LOVE it!,” Mari exclaimed, “Thank you so much!”  
“Mine next,” Marc said handing marinette a small gift bag.  
Marinette looked inside only to be surprised, “Marc, why are you giving me a canister of pepper spray and a taser?,” she asked perplexed.  
“Listen!”, Marc exclaimed hastily, “I did some research on the specific city your parents are sending you to, and it’s pretty dangerous. I just want you to be protected.”  
“O..k,” Marinette replied before feeling a gentle tap on her shoulder.  
“Here you go Mamamarinette” Luka said before slipping something small into her hand.  
Looking down she saw that it was a simple necklace with a Jagged Stone guitar pick on it.  
“Thank you Luka” She said softly.  
“Ahem”, Kagami said out of nowhere, “I suppose it’s my turn.”  
“Kagami you have been paying for me all day, I can’t take anything else,'' Mari said.  
“Please Marinette,” Kagami said flusteredly, “I want to give you this.”  
She bashfully handed Marinette a homemade friendship bracelet made with red and pink twine. It didn’t seem like much, but coming from the cool, awkward girl it meant everything.  
Marinette enveloped Kagami in a sudden hug surprising her so much that she let out a squeak.  
Aurore laughed, “Ok, let’s get this party started!”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Earlier in Mme. Bustier’s class Adrien was sitting pensively at his and Nino’s desk. Adrien was annoyed, this was the fifth day in a row Marinette hadn’t shown up to class. Adrien knew things for her hadn’t been great, but she really brought that on to herself. She should have just let Lila be. He thought she was stronger than this. She was behaving selfishly just leaving him alone in this class.  
He had no more time to ponder this though as class started. It was then though that Lila asked Mme. Bustier a question that Adrien couldn’t help but wonder at as well.  
“Mme. Bustier is Marinette alright? I’m just so worried about her. We’ve had our differences, but I know better than anyone here how hard it is to catch up after having missed so much class,” Lila said with sickly sweetness, “Will she have to be punished for the time she’s missed?”  
Mme. Bustier almost looked mad for a second before calming, and saying, “No Lila, she will not be punished, because she is no longer a student here. Her parents pulled her out a few days ago with the intention of sending her to school abroad.”  
“Oh my!,” exclaimed Lila, “I do hope this wasn’t my fault!”  
Lila was then met with a cacophony of reasurences from everyone that no it wasn’t her fault, and Marinette was just being petty. Everyone except kitty Rose and Juleka, who both looked down guiltily. The display was enough to make Adrien sick, even if he did agree that Marinette was being over dramatic. He decided then that he was going to go confront Marinette at the bakery after school.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adrien didn’t have time to go see her until around 6:00 because of all his activities, but when he finally got to the bakery he saw Marinette with her friends and parents loading suitcases into a car.  
He started to go confront her but was intercepted by Kagami.  
“What do you think you’re doing here Agreste?,” she asked coldly  
“I need to talk to Marinette”, Adrien replied tersely  
“And why is that?,” She questioned through narrowed eyes.  
“I have to talk to her about what she’s doing. It’s selfish to just leave like this. I thought she was stronger than that,” he said as though it was obvious.  
With this Kagami snapped, “You listen here Agreste!,” she shouted jabbing him in the chest, “FIRST of all, this was not Marinette’s decision, it was her parents. They decided they didn’t want to see their daughter get hurt anymore, and decided to do something about it. Marinette didn’t have a say in it. SECOND, even if it was her decision it’s NOT selfish to decide to remove yourself from a situation where you’re being hurt, and THIRDLY someone who has not acted like her friend for a long time does not get to pretend to care now!”  
Adrien was about to protest when he noticed the car driving off with Marinette on board.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Marinette was finally getting off of her flight at the gotham airport. It was a long twelve hours that she mostly spent sleeping. She got through customs, which was an ordeal all its own, and sluggishly made her way to the baggage claim. It took her awhile to find all her bags, but luckily they were all there. She then made her way to a waiting area. According to her mother she was supposed to be picked up by a man named Alfred who apparently worked for her godfather.  
“Miss Dupain-Cheng?”, she heard someone say in a posh British accent. Looking up she saw an older, balding man in suit.  
“Yes, that’s me,” she replied hesitantly.  
“Good, I’m Alfred, I’m here to take you to Wayne Manor,” he said calmly.  
“Manor?,” Marrinette asked.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Damien was standing on the front steps of the manor with his father, brothers, sister, Babs, Stephanie, and Kate. This was done at the command of his father because he thought it was important for them to meet her. Although the only girl that had to be here was Cass, but everyone was just too curious about Bruce’s elusive goddaughter not to show up.  
Damian didn’t see what the big deal was. All this girl would be is an inconvenience.  
Alfred pulled out in front of the house. He walked over and helped a cute girl with a pixie cut out of the car. She looked up at them all with the bluest eyes Damien had ever seen, and he felt his heart stop.  
He heard Stephanie whisper, “Oh my gosh she’s so cute!,” and he couldn’t help but agree. She was adorable, and made Damien feel an overwhelming urge to protect.  
He felt someone elbow him, and looked up to see Dick smirking at him. “You’re drooling,” he teased.  
Damien glared at him, but knew he should thank him for bringing him back to his senses. After all this girl being cute didn’t make her any less of a hinderance.  
Jason and Dick went to help her with her bags, and then they made their way up to the house.  
His father met her half way. “Hello Marinette, I don’t expect you to remember me, after all you were quite young the last time I saw you, but I’m Bruce, and these are my kids, Dick, Jason, Tim, Cass, and Damien. And this is Barbara, Stephanie, and Kate” he said gesturing to each of them individually, “Now I know you must be tired from your flight so one of my sons will escort you to where you will be staying. If one of them will volunteer.”  
Jason raised his hand before placing it on the girl’s shoulder in order to gain her attention, “Come on princess I’ll show you to her room.”  
What happened next was unbelievable, the girl froze up before grabbing Jason’s wrist, and throwing the full grown man over her shoulder.  
Everyone froze in shock. ‘Well’, Damien thought, ‘This might be more interesting than I thought.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm now realizing the vast amount of people I ship Marinette with and wondering if I should write those stories too.


	5. Reactions, and New Rooms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bat family reacts to Marinette's freak out, Damian might have a crush, and Marintte gets to see her new room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long I got caught up in school and then had a serious case of writers block, but here it is the fifth chapter.

Everything had gone quiet, until finally Jason managed to groan out a simple,  
"What the fuck?"

With this Marinette managed to snap out of whatever stupor she was in, and her eyes went wide with as she looked down at Jason realizing what she had done. She took a step back in horror and stuttered out, "je suis désolé monsieur. Je ne voulais pas. Je suis désolé, je suis désolé.”

The boys all look over and realize that the small Parisian girl is starting to hyperventilate as tears fill her eyes.

Without realizing it Damian starts to feel himself move to comfort the girl. He goes to stand in front of her and is about to place a comforting hand on her arm before deciding against it remembering how she just reacted to the unexpected touch from his older brother. Instead he tries to gain her attention by saying, "Hey it's fine, nobody is mad at you. They're just confused," and looking around Damian could tell this to be true, as the faces everyone in his family held expressions of shock and bewilderment, but no anger. Except for his father and Pennyworth who didn't look confused at all, in fact they looked concerned. 'Interesting', Damian thought, he'd have to file that information away for later, but right now he had to focus on calming the girl down. Although in truth he wasn't sure why he cared so much, after all this girl was supposed to be nothing but a nuisance.

He had gotten so caught up in his thoughts that he almost didn't hear the girl stutter out a soft, "really?".

Damian is about to continue to reassure the girl when Jason finally manages to heave himself up and join the conversation.   
"Demon spawn is right. Even I'm not mad and I'm the one you flipped. I clearly did something to set you off." He said easily, before continuing in a more serious tone, " although I'd like to know what to avoid doing in the future so we can avoid having an incident like this again."

Marinette nodded in understanding before softly saying, " I don't like sudden touches or being called by the nicknames princess and M'lady."

Jason nodded before Tim butted, "who the hell calls a girl their lady? That's such an incel like thing to say."

Marinette giggled a bit at this, and Damian felt his heart flutter in response.

"With that all out of the way, I have to ask, where did you learn to do that?!," questioned a very excited Stephanie.

"Oh, um, well..." paused Marinette, "Paris isn't exactly the safest place right now, so I started learning some self defense from my mother."

They all nod not really believing her but refusing to press the issue as they feared it might send the girl into another attack.

"Well Miss Marinette," said Alfred walking up behind her, "after all this excitement I think it might be best if I escorted you to your room while Master Bruce discussed your boundaries with the others. If you'll please follow me." With that Alfred grabbed two of her bags and made his way into the manor.

Marinette stood there a minute before being urged on by the three kwamis hidden on her person, and after grabbing the remainder of her luggage followed the butler into the building.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Once the girl was out of ear shot Dick turned to Bruce and asked, "What the hell was that Bruce? That's the kind of response you see out of someone with serious trauma. What happened to that girl?"

"Yea," Tim agreed, "Those triggers she listed are fairly similar to those of some victims of sexual assault, or abuse."

Bruce sighed and rubbed his temples before saying, "From what her mother said she's been severely bullied at school, to the point where it was physical,and that the staff has been doing nothing about it. I was not however made aware of any sexual harassment. I'll have to ask her about it later."

It was then that Jason exclaimed, "Are none of us going to talk about how demon spawn talked to her. I mean he was downright nice. It's very out of character for him."

Damian stiffened at hearing this, "I felt bad for her. There is nothing wrong with showing her a little pity."

Tim smirked, "It's just a strange reaction considering all you've been doing for the last week is complaining that she was going to be a hindrance."  
Damian cleared his throat nervously, "That was before she demonstrated her abilities in combat. Now that I'm assured that she is capable of protecting herself I'm far less adverse to her presence in the household."

Dick snorted, "Sure that's the reason, because you weren't leering at her when she first arrived."

Damian scoffed although he knew there was some truth to what his brother said.  
~~~~~~  
Meanwhile Marinette was following Alfred through the long corridors of the manor, wondering just how often she would be getting lost in this place. Marinette still felt uneasy after the incident earlier, but was comforted by the small presences in her coat pockets.

Finally Alfred stopped in front of one of the many doors. "Here we are," he stated, opening the door, "This is the room you'll be staying in."

Marinette's eyes widened looking around the room. Not only was it far bigger than her room back home, it appeared to be tailored to her specifically. It had a king size canopy bed covered with comfy pillows and blankets. Clearly her mother mentioned her sensitivity to the cold. There was a large dresser and work desk. There was also an adjoining bathroom, so Marinette didn't have to worry about sharing one with these men she now lived with. Lastly, to top it all off there was an area for her to design complete with a sewing machine, a few sketch pads, a dress form, and several rolls of fabrics with varying colors and designs.

Marinette felt herself tearing up. She hadn't been expecting such a kind gesture from a man she hadn't seen since she was little.

"I'll leave you to get settled in,'' Alfred said before closing the door.

As Marinette took another look around the room she laughed thinking that maybe she was finally somewhere she belonged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What Marinette says in French translates to "I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.


	6. Of Awkward Dinners and Lying Bitches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette is in the middle of the most awkward meal of her life when she gets an Akuma Alert, Lila is back and as bad as ever, and Bruce has a call to make.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry it took me so long to put this out. I'm having a lot of personal issues right now and between that and school I haven't really had the time, but hopefully, after my finals, I should be able to write more. As always I hope you enjoy.

Dinner that evening was an awkward event for all parties. Marinette was sat next to her godfather and his wife, Selena. Damian sat on her other side. While they mostly tried to act casual, Marinette caught every family member staring at her at least once during the course of the meal, causing her to shrink in on herself out of embarrassment. All that wasn't even including how uncomfortable she was when they tried to interact with her.

"So Marinette," Dick started to ask, "do you have any hobbies?."

Marinette looked up shyly before tersely answering, " Oh, I sketch, sew, and design."  
When it became clear that she wasn't going to continue Jason took the opportunity to ask, "You have any friends back home?"

Marinette nodded, "Yes, I do." Once again there was no elaboration, and it went on like this for a bit. Marinette wouldn't talk unless asked a direct question, and her answers were always polite but short. It was like she was keeping them all at arms length.

Bruce eventually got tired of the stagnant conversation and spoke up, "Speaking of Marinette's designs, she has actually designed for many big names, like Jagged Stone."

Tim looked perplexed, "But Jagged Stone only uses his personal designer MD- wait," he paused "Marinette Dupain-Cheng... YOU'RE MDC!"

Marinette looked around shyly, "um, yes, I am." She replied.

Not a second later there was a loud squeal and looking around it was clear that the sound had come from Stephanie.  
"I'm sorry", she said, "I'm just such a big fan of your work."

" Thank you", Marinette replied uneasily, "But I would request that you keep this information to yourself, I'm just not ready for the professional spotlight."

"Our lips are sealed", Dick said, making a zipping motion over his mouth.  
It was then that a buzzing sounded from Marinette's phone. She looked at it and suddenly paled.

"Anyway dinner has been nice", she lied, "but I'm exhausted from my trip, so if I could have permission to retire to my room for the night.", and without waiting for a response she dashed out of the dining hall.

Jason turned to look at everyone else, "wait to go guys, you scared her off."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Marinette was in a panic, 'of course an Akuma alert would go off while she's in the middle of dinner and surrounded by people.  
She took a deep breath and ordered in a stern tone. "Trixx you stay here if anyone comes into the room create an illusion of me sleeping. Tikki spots on." With this Marinette transformed, 

"Kalki voyage!".

She jumped through the portal ready to fight.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Ladybug surveyed the situation as she arrived. The Akuma appeared to be.. wait was that Mr. Pigeon. Indeed it was. Ladybug felt herself sigh in relief, that meant the fight would be quick, Mr. Pigeon was always easy to deal with. The only way this could get better was if this was one of the days where Chat decided he didn’t need to show up.

Of course, though Marinette was never that lucky, and a few minutes later her supposed partner showed up spouting his usual, ill-timed flirtations. Ladybug elected to ignore him after all Marinette needed to be back in Gotham before anybody noticed she was gone, and she wouldn’t be able to be if Ladybug allowed herself to be distracted with Chat Noir’s ridiculous antics. She quickly came up with a plan and then launched into action after barking some simple orders to Chat. She greatly hoped that she could wrap this up quickly.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Ladybug was able to finish the battle rather efficiently, but even as she threw her lucky charm she knew that the battle would have gone quicker if Chat had kept his head in the game and had not been an interference. It was becoming ridiculous really.

Speaking of Chat he appeared to be coming over to talk to her. “So M’lady, since the Akuma was defeated so quickly what do you say to a date?”

Ladybug rolled her eyes, “I’m sorry Chat but I was in the middle of something rather important before the Akuma happened, so I’m afraid I must return to that.”

“But M’lady,” Chat started to say, but Ladybug was gone before he even got the chance to finish, back in Gotham and glad for it.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
Lila Rossi Frowned as she watched the Ladybug news coverage on Alya’s blog. She hated Ladybug and was irritated at how easily she had dealt with this Akuma even with that dumb cat’s interference. More than anything though Lila was irritated with thoughts of Marinette.

She really didn’t know why, after all the girl had left. She was on a whole other continent even. Lila had successfully chased her out of Dupont. She had won…...so, why did it not feel that way. Lila felt herself scowl as she remembered her last run-in with the girl.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Lila was walking into a salon in east Paris. She had a nail appointment arranged for her by Mr. Agreste and was quite looking forward to it. It was then that she spotted her, Marinette. Lila hadn’t seen her since the incident on Monday where Marinette had left crying. Lila felt herself smirk just remembering it. She remembered Alix punching the girl while Alya slapped her and Sabrina took a pair of scissors to Marinette’s hair and clothes, but if there was one thing that Lila enjoyed it was kicking someone who was already down. So Lila decided to approach Marinette. After all, what was the harm in a little bit of gloating?

“Oh Marinette,” Lila trilled in a toxically sweet tone, “what a coincidence it is to run into you here, after all, I was sure that after Monday you would be ashamed to show your face anywhere.

Marinette turned around and looked at Lila with fire in her eyes. Fire, Lila thought bitterly that should’ve been snuffed out. Marinette should have been broken by now, she should be in tears not stubbornly defiant. Lila also couldn't help but notice Marinette’s new haircut. It was a simple pixie cut that Lila loathed to admit to herself actually suited the young designer as it accentuated how she had matured far better than her pigtails had.

“ What do you want, Rossi?”, Marinette asked blankly.

Her indifferent response shocked Lila a bit, but still, Lila continued. “I’m just here to accept your terms of surrender,” Lila said smugly.

Marinette burst out laughing at this, and Lila was so shocked that she could only stand and stare. This was not how she had been expecting things to go.

“Oh Lila,” huffed Marinette, “you can’t be serious.”

Lila could only stay quiet, still not sure how to respond.

“The thing is Lila”, continued Marinette,” You may have tried to take everything away from me, but you can’t. My aspirations, my talents, my relationships with the people that actually care, Those are all things you can’t take away. You can try but you will ultimately fail. So here is what I am going to do Lila I’m going to pick myself up and go on. I’m going to finish school, I’m going to achieve my dreams, I’m going to help the world even if it doesn't deserve it, and in the end when all is said and done you and the rest of the class won’t even be important enough to be a footnote in my biography.

Having said this the young lady turned on her heel and strutted out of the salon leaving the Italian harpy gaping in her tracks.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Lila felt her scowl deepen because remembering that she knew why she was so irritated. She NEEDED Marinette's surrender, and she was going get it even if she had to cash in every favor she had.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
Bruce sighed, after finishing his dinner he went to check on Marinette only to find her asleep in her bed.

He had decided after seeing how Marinette acted today that he should call her mother to get more details about her situation, and what the woman had told him. Being betrayed by people who were supposed to be her friends, having to constantly control her emotions lest Hawkmoth uses them against her, and near-constant sexual harassment and molestation from a boy who was supposed to be a hero and her partner.

It was a lot to take in but it explained Marinette's behavior. Bruce saw the signs of her drawing back and he knew that he didn’t want the sweet, idealistic girl he remembered to become like him, jaded and emotionally constipated. In order to avoid this though Marinette needed help, but it wasn’t help Bruce could provide himself. The girl needed therapy and it needed to be administered by someone Bruce knew could be trusted.

So, he got up to make a call. He dialed the number and the phone rang once before being answered. ”Hello Dinah,” he said lowly, “I need a favor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking about writing other stories when I get the chance. I'm thinking Marinette x Hiro Hamada, because they are both precious cinnamon rolls and I love them and want them to be happy. Also, Marinette in Sanfransoky would be wild.

**Author's Note:**

> So this will hopefully continue, I'm in my first year of college so updates will probably be irregular. Also if that Lila role-player comments at all during the course of this fic, please ignore them, it's not good to feed the trolls. I will answer question you might have in the comments.


End file.
